Economics, not morality, controls the sex business
- Source: Global Times
- [23:14 November 30 2009]
- Comments
Prohibition was so completely ineffective and unenforceable that it was abolished 13 years later, and the decision to engage or refrain returned to where it should have always been – personal choice.
As with Prohibition, making prostitution illegal doesn't stop it from happening, it only drives it underground, where it's conducted without regulation or documentation. The problem is hidden, not addressed.
Criminalizing sex workers won't prevent them from engaging in their line of work, but serves only to further marginalize an already brutalized group of people. While it is acknowledged that some high-end sex workers take up the profession by choice, this is not the case for the majority.
Many, both Chinese and foreign women such as Russian immigrants and female defectors from North Korea, are victims of coercion and human trafficking by those who profit from orchestrating an unregulated sex industry. The traditional stigma against sex workers is compounded by police practices that overwhelmingly penalize the prostitute while usually exonerating the male customer.
Because their transactions are illegal, those who are robbed, assaulted, or otherwise threatened while engaging in sex work (both prostitutes and their customers) are unlikely to seek legal recourse. They are also unlikely to be reached by programs designed to educate sex workers about prophylactic use and the risks associated with sexually transmitted infections.
Bringing prostitution under government regulations allows us to eliminate health risks. In the US state of Nevada's legal brothels, not a single case of HIV has ever been found. With legal protections and regulation, sex workers can be protected, and those trafficked into the trade can be more easily found and given new opportunities. With well-run, clean brothels operating legally, the police can concentrate their resources on unlicensed and criminal operations instead.
Suspend usual moral judgments for a moment and approach this with a mind open to new solutions, as there is plenty of evidence that the traditional wisdom isn't working.
Make prostitution legal so it can be regulated, so standards can be enforced to ensure the safety and consent of sex workers and the health of the community as a whole.
The author is a Beijingbased medical technician and freelance writer.
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